The Hearts youngster has been tipped for big things by a former Scotland international.

The rise of James Wilson has been one of the positives of a season of contrasting emotions for Hearts.

This week marks the one-year anniversary of Wilson’s Premiership debut for the Jambos as he came off the bench in a 3-0 home win against Dundee before making a second substitute appearance in a 2-2 draw at St Mirren just days later. However, it is during the current campaign that the 18-year-old has shown serious signs of progression by establishing himself as a key figure in the starting eleven after coming off the bench to score in consecutive games against St Mirren and Hibs in October.

A return of six goals and two assists in 31 games in all competitions may seem somewhat modest - but Wilson has proven himself to be one of the most exciting young players in the Premiership and his progress during the season earned a maiden call-up to the senior Scotland squad. After making his debut as a substitute in a Nations League play-off defeat against Greece in March, Wilson will hope to add to his tally of caps during the summer months when Steve Clarke’s men face a friendly double header against Iceland and Liechtenstein as they round off their preparations for World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Belarus in September.

Wilson was also nominated for the SPFL Young Player of the Year award alongside Celtic’s Arne Engels, Rangers forward Hamza Igamane and Motherwell midfielder and fellow recent Scotland call-up Lennon Miller - but lost out to the latter earlier this week. Despite that minor disappointment, Wilson will aim to continue shining at Hearts during the final games of the season and is sure to be a key figure under a new manager when the new campaign gets underway in August.

The young forward has been told he has a ‘huge, huge future ahead of him’ by former Arsenal and Manchester City striker Paul Dickov, who believes Wilson will ‘turn into a proper signing for a big club’ at some point in the future.

He told 10bet: “There's a few of them at the minute. There's a lot of good young Scottish players, which we've actually missed over the last few years, actually coming through the system. The one I do like is James Wilson at Hearts, the young 18-year-old centre-forward. He made his debut, I think aged 17, and scored in the Conference League. I think he's the youngest ever scorer to do it, and he already made his Scotland debut against Greece.

“At such a young age, it might be a bit too soon for him to maybe move away from Hearts. I know Hearts fans won't like me saying it. They want one of their own there as long as they can. But he’s a really, really talented boy, a goalscorer and he's got a huge, huge future ahead of him. Maybe a few more seasons at Hearts, learning his trade and then he's going to turn into a proper signing for a big club, I reckon.”

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